Anna and Brian play a game where they put the domino tiles (of size $2 \times 1$) in a boards composed of $n \times 1$ boxes. Tiles must be placed so that they cover exactly two boxes. Players take turnslaying each tile and the one laying last tile wins. They play once for each $n$, where $n = 2, 3,\dots,2007$. Show that Anna wins at least $1505$ of the games if she always starts first and they both always play optimally, ie if they do their best to win in every move.

Turbo the snail sits on a point on a circle with circumference $1$. Given an infinite sequence of positive real numbers $c_1, c_2, c_3, \dots$, Turbo successively crawls distances $c_1, c_2, c_3, \dots$ around the circle, each time choosing to crawl either clockwise or counterclockwise. Determine the largest constant $C > 0$ with the following property: for every sequence of positive real numbers $c_1, c_2, c_3, \dots$ with $c_i < C$ for all $i$, Turbo can (after studying the sequence) ensure that there is some point on the circle that it will never visit or crawl across.

Juri and Mari play the following game. Juri starts by drawing a random triangle on a piece of paper. Mari then draws a line on the same paper that goes through the midpoint of one of the midsegments of the triangle. Then Juri adds another line that also goes through the midpoint of the same midsegment. These two lines divide the triangle into four pieces. Juri gets the piece with maximum area (or one of those with maximum area) and the piece with minimum area (or one of those with minimum area), while Mari gets the other two pieces. The player whose total area is bigger wins. Does either of the players have a winning strategy, and if so, who has it?

Let $\mathcal{F}$ be a finite family of subsets of some set $X{}$. It is known that for any two elements $x,y\in X$ there exists a permutation $\pi$ of the set $X$ such that $\pi(x)=y$, and for any $A\in\mathcal{F}$ \[\pi(A):=\{\pi(a):a\in A\}\in\mathcal{F}.\]A bear and crocodile play a game. At a move, a player paints one or more elements of the set $X$ in his own color: brown for the bear, green for the crocodile. The first player to fully paint one of the sets in $\mathcal{F}$ in his own color loses. If this does not happen and all the elements of $X$ have been painted, it is a draw. The bear goes first. Prove that he doesn't have a winning strategy.

Dragos, the early ruler of Moldavia, and Maria the Oracle play the following game. Firstly, Maria chooses a set $S$ of prime numbers. Then Dragos gives an infinite sequence $x_1, x_2, ...$ of distinct positive integers. Then Maria picks a positive integer $M$ and a prime number $p$ from her set $S$. Finally, Dragos picks a positive integer $N$ and the game ends. Dragos wins if and only if for all integers $n \ge N$ the number $x_n$ is divisible by $p^M$; otherwise, Maria wins. Who has a winning strategy if the set S must be: $\hspace{5px}$a) finite; $\hspace{5px}$b) infinite? Proposed by [i]Boris Stanković, Bosnia and Herzegovina[/i]

A box $3\times5\times7$ is divided into unit cube cells. In each of the cells, there is a c[i][/i]ockchafer. At a signal, every c[i][/i]ockchafer moves through a face of its cell to a neighboring cell. (a) What is the minimum number of empty cells after the signal? (b) The same question, assuming that the c[i][/i]ockchafers move to diagonally adjacent cells (sharing exactly one vertex).

Given an endless supply of white, blue and red cubes. In a circle arrange any $N$ of them. The robot, standing in any place of the circle, goes clockwise and, until one cube remains, constantly repeats this operation: destroys the two closest cubes in front of him and puts a new one behind him a cube of the same color if the destroyed ones are the same, and the third color if the destroyed two are different colors. We will call the arrangement of the cubes [i]good [/i] if the color of the cube remaining at the very end does not depends on where the robot started. We call $N$ [i]successful [/i] if for any choice of $N$ cubes all their arrangements are good. Find all successful $N$. I. Bogdanov

A player repeatedly throwing a die is to play until their score reaches or passes a total $n$. Denote by $p(n)$ the probability of making exactly the total $n,$ and find the value of $\lim_{n \to \infty} p(n).$

There are $n$ coins aligned in a row. In each step, it is allowed to choose a coin with the tail up (but not one of the outermost markers), remove it and reverse the closest coin to the left and the closest coin to the right of it. Initially, all the coins have tails up. Prove that one can achieve the state with only two coins remaining if and only if $n-1$ is not divisible by $3$.

Arthur and Renate play a game on a $7 \times 7$ board. Arthur has two red tiles, initially placed on the cells in the bottom left and the upper right corner. Renate has two black tiles, initially placed on the cells in the bottom right and the upper left corner. In a move, a player can choose one of his two tiles and move them to a horizontally or vertically adjacent cell. The players alternate, with Arthur beginning. Arthur wins when both of his tiles are in horizontally or vertically adjacent cells after some number of moves. Can Renate prevent him from winning?

Let $n$ be a given positive integer. Sisyphus performs a sequence of turns on a board consisting of $n + 1$ squares in a row, numbered $0$ to $n$ from left to right. Initially, $n$ stones are put into square $0$, and the other squares are empty. At every turn, Sisyphus chooses any nonempty square, say with $k$ stones, takes one of these stones and moves it to the right by at most $k$ squares (the stone should say within the board). Sisyphus' aim is to move all $n$ stones to square $n$. Prove that Sisyphus cannot reach the aim in less than \[ \left \lceil \frac{n}{1} \right \rceil + \left \lceil \frac{n}{2} \right \rceil + \left \lceil \frac{n}{3} \right \rceil + \dots + \left \lceil \frac{n}{n} \right \rceil \] turns. (As usual, $\lceil x \rceil$ stands for the least integer not smaller than $x$. )

Rodolfo and Gabriela have $9$ chips numbered from $1$ to $9$ and they have fun with the following game: They remove the chips one by one and alternately (until they have $3$ chips each), with the following rules: $\bullet$ Rodolfo begins the game, choosing a chip and in the following moves he must remove, each time, a chip three units greater than the last chip drawn by Gabriela. $\bullet$ Gabriela, on her turn, chooses a first chip and in the following times she must draw, each time, a chip two units smaller than the last chip that she herself drew. $\bullet$ The game is won by whoever gets the highest number by adding up their three tokens. $\bullet$ If the game cannot be completed, a tie is declared. If they play without making mistakes, how should Rodolfo play to be sure he doesn't lose?

Amy and Bob play a game. They alternate turns, with Amy going first. At the start of the game, there are $20$ cookies on a red plate and $14$ on a blue plate. A legal move consists of eating two cookies taken from one plate, or moving one cookie from the red plate to the blue plate (but never from the blue plate to the red plate). The last player to make a legal move wins; in other words, if it is your turn and you cannot make a legal move, you lose, and the other player has won. Which player can guarantee that they win no matter what strategy their opponent chooses? Prove that your answer is correct.

There is an empty table with $2^{100}$ rows and $100$ columns. Alice and Eva take turns filling the empty cells of the first row of the table, Alice plays first. In each move, Alice chooses an empty cell and puts a cross in it; Eva in each move chooses an empty cell and puts a zero. When no empty cells remain in the first row, the players move on to the second row, and so on (in each new row Alice plays first). The game ends when all the rows are filled. Alice wants to make as many different rows in the table as possible, while Eva wants to make as few as possible. How many different rows will be there in the table if both follow their best strategies? Proposed by Denis Afrizonov

A traveller visited a village whose inhabitants either always tell the truth or always lie. The villagers stood in a circle facing the centre of the circle, and each villager announced whether the person standing to his right is a truth-teller. On the basis of this information, the traveller was able to determine what fraction of the villagers were liars. What was this fraction? (B, Frenkin)

Three persons $A,B,C$, are playing the following game: A $k$-element subset of the set $\{1, . . . , 1986\}$ is randomly chosen, with an equal probability of each choice, where $k$ is a fixed positive integer less than or equal to $1986$. The winner is $A,B$ or $C$, respectively, if the sum of the chosen numbers leaves a remainder of $0, 1$, or $2$ when divided by $3$. For what values of $k$ is this game a fair one? (A game is fair if the three outcomes are equally probable.)

You are playing a game called "Hovse." Initially you have the number $0$ on a blackboard. If at any moment the number $x$ is written on the board, you can either: $\bullet$ replace $x$ with $3x + 1$ $\bullet$ replace $x$ with $9x + 1$ $\bullet$ replace $x$ with $27x + 3$ $\bullet$ or replace $x$ with $\left \lfloor \frac{x}{3} \right \rfloor $. However, you are not allowed to write a number greater than $2017$ on the board. How many positive numbers can you make with the game of "Hovse?"

Ward and Gabrielle are playing a game on a large sheet of paper. At the start of the game, there are $999$ ones on the sheet of paper. Ward and Gabrielle each take turns alternatingly, and Ward has the first turn. During their turn, a player must pick two numbers a and b on the sheet such that $gcd(a, b) = 1$, erase these numbers from the sheet, and write the number $a + b$ on the sheet. The first player who is not able to do so, loses. Determine which player can always win this game.

An ordered quadruple of numbers is called [i]ten-esque[/i] if it is composed of 4 nonnegative integers whose sum is equal to $10$. Ana chooses a ten-esque quadruple $(a_1, a_2, a_3, a_4)$ and Banana tries to guess it. At each stage Banana offers a ten-esque quadtruple $(x_1,x_2,x_3,x_4)$ and Ana tells her the value of \[|a_1-x_1|+|a_2-x_2|+|a_3-x_3|+|a_4-x_4|\] How many guesses are needed for Banana to figure out the quadruple Ana chose?

We are given a row of $n\geq7$ tiles. In the leftmost 3 tiles, there is a white piece each, and in the rightmost 3 tiles, there is a black piece each. The white and black players play in turns (the white starts). In each move, a player may take a piece of their color, and move it to an adjacent tile, so long as it's not occupied by a piece of the [u]same color[/u]. If the new tile is empty, nothing happens. If the tile is occupied by a piece of the [u]opposite color[/u], both pieces are destroyed (both white and black). The player who destroys the last two pieces wins the game. Which player has a winning strategy, and what is it? (The answer may depend on $n$)

Anana has an ordered $n$-tuple $(a_1,a_2,...,a_n)$ if integers. Banana may make a guess on Anana's ordered integer $n$-tuple $(x_1,x_2,...,x_n)$, upon which Anana will reveal the product of differences $(a_1-x_1)(a_2-x_2)...(a_n-x_n)$. How many guesses does Banana need to figure out Anana's $n$-tuple for certain?

On a rectangular board $100 \times 300$, two people take turns coloring the cells that have not yet been colored. The first one colors cells in yellow, and the second one in blue. Coloring is completed when every cell of the board is colored. A [i]connected sequence[/i] of cells is a sequence of cells in which every two consecutive cells share a common side (and all cells in the sequence are different). Consider all possible connected sequences of yellow cells. The result of the first player is the number of cells in the connected sequence of yellow cells of maximum length. The first player's goal is to maximize the result, and the second player's goal is to make the first player's result as small as possible. Prove that if each player tries to achieve his goal, the result of the first player will be no more than $200$. [i]Proposed by Mykhailo Shtandenko and Fedir Yudin[/i]

A fair coin is repeatedly tossed. We receive one marker for every ”head” and two markers for every ”tail”. We win the game if, at some moment, we possess exactly $100$ markers. Is the probability of winning the game greater than, equal to, or less than $2/3$?

Let $n\ge 2$ be an integer. Ariane and Bérénice play a game on the number of the residue classes modulo $n$. At the beginning there is the residue class $1$ on each piece of paper. It is the turn of the player whose turn it is to replace the current residue class $x$ with either $x + 1$ or by $2x$. The two players take turns, with Ariane starting. Ariane wins if the residue class $0$ is reached during the game. Bérénice wins if she can prevent that permanently. Depending on $n$, determine which of the two has a winning strategy.

The Y2K Game is played on a $1 \times 2000$ grid as follows. Two players in turn write either an S or an O in an empty square. The first player who produces three consecutive boxes that spell SOS wins. If all boxes are filled without producing SOS then the game is a draw. Prove that the second player has a winning strategy.